HEART FAILURE: A Critical Inquiry into the Revolution in Heart Care

by Thomas J. Moore ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 26, 1989

Moore reveals how politics and big business have contributed to a $50-billion-per-year heart-care industry that does little to prevent deaths from heart disease. The good news is that failure to lower cholesterol levels doesn't necessarily increase the likelihood of heart attacks. The bad news is that Americans have already spent pointless millions on special low-cholesterol diets and medications. In convincing, hard-hitting prose, Moore explains how and why the National Heart, Blood and Lung Institute first carried out a $115 million, ten-year low-cholesterol experiment that clearly failed, yet then went on to initiate a massive education program on the dangers of high-cholesterol diets in ""high-risk"" individuals. Next, the Institute staged a $142 million test of the effects of cholestyramine, a noxious and expensive cholesterol-lowering drug, on high-risk heart patients. Though more patients died in the treatment group than in the control group, medical authorities juggled the numbers in an effort to convince the nation that oat bran and cholestyramine were the keys to a healthy life. The reason for this, says Moore, is simple: After over a decade of commitment to the study of cholesterol, the scientists' careers were on the line. They needed successful results fast, and so did the Institute, which had bet a lion's share of its research budget on cholesterol alone. A similar story is told regarding bypass surgery and angioplasty, in which millionaire heart surgeons and cardiologists were doing too well financially to risk assessing the results of their work. The fact that in one hospital patients faced only a 60/40 chance of surviving heart surgery remained undisclosed until fairly recently, when the first hospital-by-hospital comparison study was finally done. The author concludes by quoting Lewis Thomas: ""Patients do get better. . .and if you are one of the lucky ones and have also at hand a steady and knowledgeable doctor, you become convinced that the doctor saved you."" A startling, powerful expos‚.

Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1989

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Random House

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1989

Categories: NONFICTION